Article

Anatolij V. Barkalov, Head of laboratory, in the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of RAS (Russia, 630091, Novosibirsk, Frunse Street, 11); iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1172-9468; e-mail: bark@eco.nsc.ru
Olga A. Khruleva, Senior Researcher in the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of RAS (Russia, Moscow, 119071, Leninsky prospekt, 33); iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6602-0053; e-mail: oa-khruleva@mail.ru

Barkalov A.V., Khruleva O.A. 2021. Hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae) of Wrangel Island (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia). Nature Conservation Research 6(1): 78–87. https://dx.doi.org/10.24189/ncr.2021.013

This article continues the series of publications devoted to the inventory of the arthropod fauna of Wrangel Island. It summarises previously unpublished data on about 150 specimens of hoverflies in total (Diptera, Syrphidae) collected by various methods (using individual catching, sweeping, yellow pan traps) from 1972 to 2019. Features of the fauna composition and the distribution of hoverflies on Wrangel Island are also discussed. A synopsis of the hoverfly fauna of Wrangel Island consists of 16 species, of which nine have been recorded from this territory for the first time, and one species, Platycheirus pullatus, is new for the Palaearctic region. The subfamily Syrphinae (15 species) includes all the genera which are typical for the tundra zone (Eupeodes, Parasyrphus, Platycheirus, Sphaerophoria, Syrphus), whereas the Eristalinae is represented by a single species, Helophilus groenlandicus. The core of the fauna is formed by arctic hoverfly species. About a third consists of widespread species which are common in the northern part of the tundra zone. The vast majority of the species found on Wrangel Island are known from singletons. The most common species is Parasyrphus groenlandicus. In some years, Parasyrphus tarsatus, Eupeodes curtus, Platycheirus aeratus, and P. setitarsis were locally common. On Wrangel Island, the richest hoverfly fauna (12 species) is located in the central, warmest, part, an enclave of a typical tundra subzone. Most of the species found only here (four out of six) were collected in the XXI century, during a warming climate. Despite the clearly incomplete information, the hoverfly fauna on Wrangel Island (where the biota has a long Pleistocene history) is much richer than on most other Arctic islands.

Arctic, fauna, new record, subzonal distribution, tundra zone

Received: 02.09.2020. Revised: 24.12.2020. Accepted: 28.12.2020.

Alfimov A.A. 2007. Temperature status of interior parts of Wrangel Island. In: A.R. Gruzdev (Ed.) Nature of Wrangel Island. Recent Studies. St. Petersburg: Asterion. P. 237–253. [In Russian]
Barkalov A.V. 2012. Comparative analysis of Diptera faunas of hypoarctic of Taymyr Peninsula and high mountains of Altai. Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 8(2): 349–352. [In Russian]
Barkalov A.V. 2015. Hover-flies (Diptera, Syrphidae) of the Taymyr Peninsular. Part 1. Euroasian Entomological Journal 14(1): 54–62. [In Russian]
Barkalov A.V., Mutin V.A. 2015. Hover-flies (Diptera, Syrphidae) of the Anadyr River lower reach territory, Chukotka Autonomnyi Okrug of Russia. Euroasian Entomological Journal 14(4): 346–359. [In Russian]
Barkalov A.V., Mutin V.A. 2016. Hover-flies (Diptera, Syrphidae) of two local faunas of the Yamal Peninsula. Euroasian Entomological Journal 15(3): 239–249. [In Russian]
Barkalov A.V., Mutin V.A. 2018. Checklist of the hover-flies (Diptera, Syrphidae) of Russia. Euroasian Entomological Journal 17(6): 466–510. [In Russian]
Bartsch H., Binkiewicz E., Rådén A., Nasibov E. 2009. Blomflugor: Syrphinae. In: Nationalnyckeln till Sveriges flora och flora. DH53a. Uppsala: Artdatabanken, SLU. 406 p.
Brodo F. 2000. The insects, mites, and spiders of Hot Weather Creek, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. Bulletin of Geological Survey of Canada 529: 145–173. DOI: 10.4095/211956
Chernov Yu.I. 1963. Materials on the fauna of syrphids (Diptera, Syrphidae) of the tundra zone. Uchenye Zapiski of the Moscow Region Pedagogical Institute 126(6): 101–107. [In Russian]
Chernov Yu.I. 1978a. Antophilic insects in the subzone of typical tundras of Western Taymyr and their role in pollination of plants. In: Structure and function of biogeocenoses of the Taymyr tundra. Leningrad: Nauka. P. 264–290. [In Russian]
Chernov Yu.I. 1978b. The structure of the animal population of the Subarctic. Moscow: Nauka. 167 p. [In Russian]
Chernov Yu.I. 1995. The order Diptera (Insecta) in the Arctic fauna. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 74(5): 68–83. [In Russian]
Coulson S.J., Refseth D. 2004. The terrestrial and freshwater invertebrate fauna of Svalbard. In: P. Prestrud, H. Strøm, H.V. Goldman (Eds.): A catalog of the terrestrial and marine animals of Svalbard. Tromsø: Norwegian Polar Institute. P. 57–122.
Danks H.V. 1981. Arctic arthropods, a review of systematics and ecology with particular reference to the North American fauna. Ottawa: Entomological Society of Canada. 605 p.
Grichanov I.Ya., Khruleva O.A. 2018. Fauna and ecology of Dolichopodidae (Diptera) from Wrangel Island Nature Reserve (Chukotka, Russia). Nature Conservation Research 3(3): 37–45. DOI: 10.24189/ncr.2018.023
Kevan P.G. 1972. Insect pollination of High Arctic Flowers. Journal of Ecology 60(3): 831–847. DOI: 10.2307/2258569
Kholod S.S. 2013. Zonation in the plant cover on the Wrangel Island: syntaxonomical approach. Vegetation of Russia 23: 89–121. [In Russian]
Khruleva O.A. 1987. Invertebrates. In: V.E. Sokolov, T.M. Korneeva (Eds.): Flora and Fauna of Reserves of the USSR: Fauna of the Wrangel Island Reserve. Moscow. P. 6–36. [In Russian]
Khruleva O.A. 2007. Peculiarity of terrestrial Arthropod fauna in view of Environment of the Wrangel Island. In: A.R. Gruzdev (Ed.): Nature of Wrangel Island. Recent Studies. St. Petersburg: Asterion. P. 136–175. [In Russian]
Khruleva O.A. 2009. Arthropod assemblages of the Wrangel Island in a context of recent and Pleistocene tundra-steppe insect faunas of the northeastern Asia. In: A.B. Babenko, N.V. Matveyeva, O.L. Makarova, S.I. Golovatch (Eds.): Species and Communities in Extreme Environments. Moscow–Sofia: KMK Scientific Press Ltd. and PENSOFT. P. 124–167. [In Russian]
Khruleva O.A., Stekolshchikov A.V. 2019. Additions to the aphid fauna of Wrangel Island due to climate change with redescription of the oviparous female of Pterocomma groenlandicum Hille Ris Lambers, 1952 (Hemiptera, Aphidoidea). Zootaxa 4615(3): 511–528. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4615.3.6
Khruleva O.A., Zinchenko V.K. 2017. Blowflies (Diptera, Calliphoridae) of the Wrangel Island, Chukotka, Russia. Euroasian Entomological Journal 16(4): 388–394. DOI: 10.15298/euroasentj.16.4.13 [In Russian]
Mutin V.A., Barkalov A.V. 1999. Family Syrphidae – hover-flies. In: P.A. Ler (Ed.): Key to insects of the Far East. Vol. 6, part 1. Vladivostok: Dalnauka. P. 342–500. [In Russian]
Ǿkland F. 1928. Land- und süsswasserfauna von Nowaja Semlja (Report of the Scientific Results of the Norvegian Expedition to Novaya Zemlya, 1921. Vol. 2). Oslo: (Kristiania) A.W. Brǿggers Boktrykikeri A.S. 125 p.
Sorokina V.S., Khruleva O.A. 2012. Details of species composition and distribution of house-flies (Diptera, Muscidae) of the Wrangel Island, Russia. Euroasian Entomological Journal 11(6): 553–564. [In Russian]
Stekolshchikov A.V., Khruleva O.A. 2014. A contribution to the aphid fauna (Hemiptera: Aphididae) of Wrangel Island. Zootaxa 3887(3): 298–320. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3887.3.2
Stishov M.S. 2004. Wrangel Island as a natural standard and a natural anomaly. Yoshkar-Ola: Mari Polygraph Complex. 596 p. [In Russian]
Svatkov N.M. 1970. Wrangel Island. In: I.P. Gerasimov (Ed.): The Soviet Arctic. Moscow: Nauka. P. 453–481. [In Russian]
Yurtsev B.A. 1987. The effect of historical factors on the adaptation of plants to extreme environmental conditions of the arctic tundra subzone (Wrangel Island flora taken in example). Botanicheskii Zhurnal 72(11): 1436–1447. [In Russian]
Vartanyan S. L. 2007. Wrangel Island at the end of the Quaternary: geology and paleogeography. St. Petersburg: Publishing House of Ivan Limbach. 144 p.
Vockeroth J.R. 1992. The Flower Flies of the Subfamily Syrphinae of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. Diptera: Syrphidae. In: The Insects and Arachnids of Canada. Vol. 18. Ottawa: Agriculture Canada. 456 p.